Basra Chow

Kevin's unit has been at Camp Basra for about a month now. One of the biggest complaints that he's had since arriving there is the KBR chow hall. He has flat out told me that he would prefer not to eat than eat that chow! There has been many flies, and other bugs found in various foods. Well after he told be how awful the food was I got on the KBR website and wrote a letter!:

From: kbrwebmeister@kbr.com [mailto:kbrwebmeister@kbr.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 11:32 PM
To: FHOUKBR - WebmeisterSubject: KBR.COM FeedbackSubject: Basra Chow
Email: samstandring@aol.com

Comments:
Dear Sir or Ma'am:
My husband a SGT in the US Army is stationed at Camp Basra. Since his arrival to Camp Basra he has complained multiple times about the quality of the food there provided by KBR and their employees. Him and his friends have been served pancakes with flies in them, and the overall quality of the food is poor. My husband has mentioned numerous times that he would rather not eat versus eat the food provided. I would hope that KBR has higher expectations that this for the food that it serves to our military fighting in the Middle East. Also, I implore you to have someone investigate the quality of the ingredients, your employees and to review the QA policies and procedures that I'm sure your company currently has. Please review and feel free to contact me if you should need further information. Thank you.

Why am I telling you all this?? WELLLLL... I'm fancy-pants! I received the following this morning!!:

Dear Mrs Standring,
Thank you for your email below. I am the KBR Project Manager for the new Catering Contract in Basra, Iraq. I am sorry to hear that your husband has had a less than satisfactory dining experience in Basra. Please note that the actual food is supplied by the US Military whilst KBR’s contract, which only commenced in Basra on 1 Apr 09, is to cook and serve the meals. This is a huge operation, feeding up to 9,000 US and UK troops daily, and KBR continues to work extremely closely with the US Military to ensure that the correct standards are continuously met through rigorous QA procedures. Please be assured that food hygiene remains our highest priority. Your husband’s case has been brought to the attention of our Catering Manager in Basra and I can assure you that every effort is being made to ensure that this kind of unfortunate incident will not happen again. Thank you again for bringing this to our attention and please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any other queries.
Kind regards
Matt
Matthew Jacobs
Defence Services Project Manager

I didn't think that I would get any response so I am excited to get that much!

So after making my travel plans last night I was running around crazy today!!!! I found myself a bathing suit (goodness I haven't even put one of these on in quite some time! I also had to get a pair of shorts that actually fit, along with some of those travel-size shampoos and deodorants! =) I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off! I am just now getting the chance to sit down to relax, but somehow I still feel like I have so much more to do, and I don't know where I'll find the time. I still need to clean the house (for my house/dog sitter), laundry, pack, get a new ID card, see my parents, get bills paid- oh man and so much more!!!! I just really needed to sit down and get my bearings I was starting to feel very overwhelmed! But now that I've re-grouped I'm ready to get back to the grind! Oh.. did I mention I am in DESPERATE need of a pedicure... =( oh man. Maybe I'll get one after getting to SD? We'll see if I can get to it... Fingers crossed.

VERY excited

I am heading to San Diego this weekend! I am so very excited... I could really use some fun! My lovely and generous MIL/FIL are there so I am going to stay with them, lounge by the pool, hopefully tan my pasty self for the summer, eat (this is exciting after losing 20+ lbs!), RELAX and maybe read?! I leave good ol' CO on Friday and return on Monday. I am also lucky enough to have some friends from high school out in that area now so I will be catching up with them Saturday night! I miss them, and am looking forward to creating new memories!

I really think this trip is going to be JUST what I need! It will definitely reinspire my "positive" outlook.

PS: I was super excited about my job interview last week with Tierra Vista... now the doubts are starting to set in. Today Jennifer (the Assistant Property Mgr- who I interviewed with) was supposed to call me back so that I could come introduce myself to the Property Mgr and turn in my application (they already have my resume)... but she didn't. Probably just forgot. All the same... nerves are definitely starting to take a toll.

Right now I am super tired but for whatever reason cannot manage to fall asleep! I took my Tylenol PM about 20 minutes ago. I am waiting for that to kick in so I desided I would blog and watch some Golden Girls! Gotta love these ladies. Also.. because I'm bored I'll tell everyone about this hilarious episode of Will and Grace I just saw! It was from one of the later seasons- after Grace and Leo were married. It was Christmas; Will was with Jack and Karen, Grace was meant to see the Nutcracker with Leo but he got paged to the hospital.... well Grace comes over and suckers Will into going with her to the Nutcracker... they get to the theater- in comes Leo... out goes Will... I think you see where this is headed! Well I laughed out loud (LOL) multiple times! It was hilarious! =)

Goodnight everyone... sleepiness has set in (thank goodness!).

Wedding Bells

First: It occured to me that it would be easier to upload all pictures than add captions and text! I'm a friggin' genius sometimes! bwahahaha

OK so our wedding: We were married in Portland, aboard the Sternwheeler Rose! I feel blessed to have had a unique wedding. I haven't heard of anyone else getting married on a river boat. =) It was great too. The cruise was only 2 1/2 hours... This turned out to be the PERFECT amount of time to board sail down (or was it up? Anywhozle..) river and let the captian idle the boat infront of downtown Portland, have the ceremony, take a ridiculous amount of pictures, eat, mingle, Father/Daughter dance and our first dance... then we were docking and getting the hell out of there! OH! and of course we had cake... yummm!

Something unique I really wanted to incorporate into our wedding was my Brother-in-law, Levi who was unfortunately deployed at the time. So my sister and I fashioned yellow ribbons and everyone in attendance wore one. He was very missed on that day. When we were having cake and giving everyone thanks for being there with us on that special day, I wanted to explain the ribbons' purpose.. .but really I just broke down and balled like a baby. Thankfully Kevin took over for me and completed my explination.

Here's a few pictures:

Love this one: See us down there on the back of the boat?

Well funny story: getting out there was quite a royal pain in the ass. But getting back to the dock almost caused a huge calamity; Kevin turned toward the dock and started walking. I started to follow with my flowers and heels but slipped! GASP! I shout "KEVIN!" he turns you know ever- slowly and looks at me like "what is your problem?" I say "Can I get a little help please!!?" His response was to take my flowers and continue off the boat onto the dock! GRRR... what a wonderful impression he makes as a new Husband... All's well that ends well, I suppose. I didn't fall off into the yucky water and we got an awesome picture out of the ordeal! =)

(kissy kissy)

(kissy kissy)

(my hubs- CHEESIN!)

(My sister and I; pre-wedding)

Okay, so thats my wedding story, engagement, wedding, and honeymoon! =)

Sorry for the Delay

Hi readers... I know I know, I said that I was going to post yesterday about my wedding! BAD ME, BAD! Please forgive me. =)

So I guess I should start at the beginning? The proposal? Hmmm, I'm not really sure what that is? ha ha Just kidding. Basically we had talked about the possibility of marriage, then one day agreed to it, set a date, bought rings and made all the plans. The next logical sequence of events would be Wedding then Honeymoon, right? Well, That's not really how we chose to do things. Kevin is originally from Portland, OR and we desided we would have the wedding there. Prior to the actually wedding day we went to down to my FIL's beach house in Salishan, OR. Hands down the most beautiful, relaxing and romantic place I have ever been (see below):

(The house; from the bay)

(Crabbers in the bay)

(Just beautiful view from the neighborhood where the house is located!)

(Sunset... obviously)

(Champagne on the beach)

(Kissy Kissy)

While we were in Salishan we did a lot of relaxing, hot-tubbing, hit up the Outlet Mall nearby, tooled around the town, and one of the cooler things we did together was blew glass! This was such a neat experience. They let you choose colors, and participate in all steps of the process not sure hot to break it down at this time though. You can make "bubbles" or paper weights. We made a hanging bubble for my FIL (for sponsoring our wedding), and a bubble for ourselves.

Isn't it purty?

Is it just me or is posting pictures very difficult? So I am going to start another post about the actually wedding! Stay tuned... ha ha! =)

Tomorrow's Post

So I think it's kind of humorous that I am going to post about what I am going to post about tomorrow. Well I just wanted to put it out there... I had an email from a new reader asking about my wedding! Tomorrow's post will be about our special day! =) Unfortunately I'm extra sleepy at 1127 pm so I must get some beauty rest for Mother's Day. It should be very interesting- considering the fantastic mood my Mother has been in the last 2 days...if you sensed saracsm you are 100% right.. oiy!! Goodnight loyal, lovely, readers! =)

And for you Mother's out there, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!! Funny tomorrow is mother's day considering procreation has been a very popular subject of conversation between me and the hubs! hmmm?

Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day

Thanks and continued strength, courage and support of your service member to all my fellow military spouses out there! =) It's not always an easy job but I think marriage under the best of circumstances can be difficult... but add a dash of fear, a 12 or 15 month deployment or two (or 3 or 4... oiy!), PCSing, TDY's, Field Rotations, a few sleepless nights and I think it takes a very VERY special woman to stand beside her husband; all without falling to pieces under the pressures this job. Kudos to you all today!

A special shout-out to all my Army Wives out there:

Be Proud This is for the young women that are waking up at 6a.m.
every morning, laying out clothes and packing
three lunches for those small precious children that
they have been left alone to care for.
This is for the pregnant Army wife wondering if her
husband will make it home in time to watch their
miracle happen.
This is for the childless Army wife, living in a town
or on a post alone where she is a complete stranger to
her surroundings.
This is for the women that feel like a third leg when
they go out with their friends and their husbands.
This is for the Army wife that canceled all her plans
to wait by the phone, and even though the phone broke
up and cut off every time you spoke to him, you waited
anyway.
This is a pledge to the women that cry themselves to
sleep in an empty bed.
This is to recognize the woman that felt like she was
dying inside when he said he had to go, but smiled for
him anyway.
This is for those of you that are faithfully in that
long line at the post office once a month, handling 2
large boxes and 2 small children like a pro.
This is for that woman that decided to remodel the
house to pass time, and then realized that she had no
idea what she was doing and sighed and wished she had
a little help.
This is for all the lonely nights, all the one-person dinners,
and all of the wondering thoughts because you
haven't heard from him in days.
This is for the sad Army wives, the angry Army wives,
and the strong Army wives.
A toast to you for falling apart, and putting
yourselves back together. Because a pay check isn't
enough, a body pillow in your bed is no consolation,
and a web cam can never compare.
This is for all of you no matter how easy or hard this
was for you.
Our soldiers are brave, they are heroes,
but so are we. So the next time someone tells you that
they would never marry an Army guy, don't bother
explaining to them that you can't control who you
fall in love with. Just think of this and nod your
head, know that you are the stronger woman. Hold your
heads up high, hang that flag in your front yard,
stick 100 magnets on your car, and then give yourself
a pat on the back.
Be proud to be the woman that you are, be proud to be
an Army wife.

JetBlue... You Tease!

Ok people, a friend of mine told me I should come visit her this month and she said that I can't use money as an excuse because JetBlue has $1 fares for military. Well HERE is what the deal actually is. Long story short- it's only for domestic, non-stop flights FROM Dulles and Richmond (VA.). Oiy...! I was super jazzed about this but then I go and get the specifics and I wanted to cry! Good lord I guess I could use a vacation huh? Oh well... I'll be here holdin' things down in CO! =) Trying to stay positive and waiting on my hubs.

So if any of you are near either one of these airports and know any active-duty (did I forget to meantion that lil specification?) military personnel please let them know! But book soon!!!!